If you are now connected, well done! If not, check your editing and also have a look at the output of dmesg to see if you have any error messages.

+

* Double-check whether you are connected - below the WLAN interface has been given an IP address - looks good!

+

+

<pre>

+

root@raspberrypi:~# ifconfig

+

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:76:7e:2e

+

inet addr:192.168.202.75 Bcast:192.168.202.255 Mask:255.255.255.0

+

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1488 Metric:1

+

RX packets:1060 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

+

TX packets:146 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

+

collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

+

RX bytes:95749 (93.5 KiB) TX bytes:48493 (47.3 KiB)

+

+

lo Link encap:Local Loopback

+

inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0

+

UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1

+

RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

+

TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

+

collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

+

RX bytes:560 (560.0 B) TX bytes:560 (560.0 B)

+

+

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b0:48:7a:91:5c:f4

+

inet addr:192.168.222.161 Bcast:192.168.222.255 Mask:255.255.255.0

+

UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

+

RX packets:31 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

+

TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

+

collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

+

RX bytes:2260 (2.2 KiB) TX bytes:1542 (1.5 KiB)

+

</pre>

+

+

If you are now connected, well done! If not, check your editing and also have a look at the output of ''dmesg'' to see if you have any error messages. You can also view the system log for messages - for example: ''sudo cat /var/log/messages | more''

Scan your network to see what wireless access points can be seen. You may need to do this to identify your network's SSID (name), but it also confirms that the wifi dongle is doing something. The first command just lists the SSIDs found, the second tells you probably more than you ever want to know:

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | grep ESSID

or

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

Create the wpa.conf file - eg: sudo vi /etc/wpa.conf:

Note: The ssid is case sensitive - if your WLAN's SSID is MYLAN, using "mylan" will not work - you won't connect!

If you are now connected, well done! If not, check your editing and also have a look at the output of dmesg to see if you have any error messages. You can also view the system log for messages - for example: sudo cat /var/log/messages | more

Firmware requirements

If no wlanx device is shown, you might need to download firmware for your USB wifi device (or track down other compatible drivers if they are available). To confirm this, check the dmesg output when you plug in your adapter - typing dmesg at the command prompt may be sufficient - and look for information related to your adapter - the example dmesg output below shows what is seen in the event of the TP-Link firmware not being present - notice that the name of the required firmware file is given (htc_9271.fw), the driver name (ath9k_htc) and an error -22 message: